Renisha McBride / Family photo

Wayne County Circuit Judge Dana Hathaway was blind drawn this afternoon after Judge Timothy Kenny, who presides over the court’s criminal division, granted a motion to recuse the previous judge on the case.

Attorneys for Theodore Wafer filed a motion requesting that Judge Qiana Lillard, a former Wayne County assistant prosecutor, recuse herself from the case. Earlier this month, Lillard ruled that she would not disqualify herself, and the matter was then referred to Kenny.

Today, Kenny granted the motion, citing the involvement of a key member of the prosecution team in Lillard’s campaign to retain her seat. Kenny said Assistant Prosecutor Terry Anderson was on the host committee for a fund-raiser.

In a statement following the hearing, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said the office “will not appeal the ruling of Judge Kenny” and would request that the case be blind drawn to another judge.

Cheryl Carpenter, Wafer’s attorney, said a calendar conference will be held before Hathaway on Wednesday.

Kenny also said Anderson spoke at a fund-raiser for Lillard and, along with another member of the prosecution team, is her Facebook friend. Anderson, though, said he did not speak at the fund-raising event and said he is not on Facebook.

Bernita Spinks, McBride’s aunt, said she was disappointed.

“I’m very disappointed, because it’s just buying time,” she said. “It’s just buying time.” Spinks said Wafer is “still walking around free and my niece is dead. We can’t see her, but you can see him.”

Attorneys for Wafer, who is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter, had argued that Lillard has social media relationships with members of the office and that members of the prosecutor’s office have helped her campaign.

Wafer is accused of shooting McBride on his porch on Nov. 2 through a locked screen door. Authorities have said that McBride, who was drunk, had crashed her car hours before she ended up on Wafer’s porch. Carpenter previously said that Wafer heard banging on his doors and was in fear. She has argued that the state’s self-defense act applies.

Carpenter said the motion to disqualify Lillard was not a stall tactic.

“The motion to disqualify Judge Lillard is all about fairness to all defendants in the entire judicial system,” she said. “It wasn’t a method to stall the case. Mr. Wafer has a constitutional right to a fair jury and a judge without the appearance of impropriety.”